Appearing for the former attorney-general, lawyer Alan Gomez said the filing of the lawsuit was an abuse of the court process as the criminal cases brought against Najib were still pending trial.
“To allow (Najib’s) claim to proceed would be to try the facts of the criminal cases on a lower burden of proof compared to the higher burden of proof (required) in the criminal courts,” Gomez said in his bid to nullify Najib’s lawsuit.
Najib filed the suit against Thomas and the government last year, claiming that the 1MDB-related charges against him were “part of a long-planned, premeditated exercise”.
Before the hearing began, Najib’s lawyer, Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, said the former prime minister will not be pursuing his claim against the federal government. No reasons were given for the withdrawal.
Najib is seeking RM1.94 million in damages.
He alleged that Thomas, who was the attorney-general from June 4, 2018 to Feb 28, 2020, carried out his duties “in line with the plans” of the then Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
Thomas was appointed after PH won the 14th general election (GE14) and formed the government, with Dr Mahathir Mohamad assuming the post of prime minister for a second time.
Thomas wants to quash Najib’s lawsuit on grounds that the case was filed “for use in the campaign leading up to the Melaka state election and the next general election”.
Gomez told the court that if Najib was of the view that the 1MDB charges against him were “wrong”, the Pekan MP should have commenced judicial review proceedings to strike them out, citing the process employed by N Sundra Rajoo, former director of the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC), in an unrelated case.
“This was not done by (Najib),” Gomez said.
“He has not been acquitted yet for the 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial, the 1MDB audit report trial, the RM6.6 billion International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) trial as well as the RM27 million money laundering SRC International trial, so he cannot bring (this) civil action,” he said.
The hearing for Thomas’ bid to nullify the suit continues before High Court judge Ahmad Bache.
Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, were present in court for the hearing today.
The former prime minister is currently serving a 12-year jail term at Kajang prison after the Federal Court affirmed his conviction and sentence in his SRC case.